Category Archives: Wine Basics

I decided to put this in wine basics because the term gets thrown around a lot and it doesn’t have a hard and fast definition. “Terroir” means earth or soil in French. In wine it is a concept that a … Continue reading →

There is a bewildering variety of wine glasses available. The companies marketing the glasses have a vested self interest in convincing people that you need a different kind of glass to properly enjoy each kind of wine. According to some … Continue reading →

Among other things, for yesterday’s Thanksgiving dinner we drank, a nice Bourgueil that I had enjoyed before. This time it was on another level of enjoyment. The difference was that about an hour before we sat down to eat, I … Continue reading →

Varietal wines are simply wines that are named for the grape principal grape variety used to make it.  Some varietal wines are made 100% from the grape named on the label.  Varietal wines made in the US must be made … Continue reading →

If you read the wine press, or even those little tags with scores and reviews that some stores put up, you will come across discussions of “oak” and “new oak”.  So what does oak have to do with wine? For … Continue reading →

Fortified wines are wines that even many wine geeks don’t know much about.  So I will start with most basic of basics.  Fortified wines are wines that have had alcohol added to them, most often brandy.  This started as a … Continue reading →

We opened a bottle of wine the other night to have when some friends came over for dinner.  It was an inexpensive but nice red from the Vaucluse region of France.  About halfway into the bottle, my wife got a … Continue reading →

It can be really hard to tell when a wine is ready to drink.  Even experts get it wrong frequently.  What I have put together in this post are some general guidelines that can help. Rosé is one of the … Continue reading →

When and how to return a bottle of wine. Continue reading →

A discussion of what is a bad wine Vs a wine you don’t like. Continue reading →